


I just called to say ..

by auworksforme



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-09
Updated: 2013-06-09
Packaged: 2017-12-14 10:37:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/835977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auworksforme/pseuds/auworksforme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik and Charles both work overnight shifts at a phone sex call centre for whatever reason - just need a job, money for the PhD, etc. On their breaks, they argue politics, drink coffee and have philosophical debates which sometimes have to continue through IMs/texts while they're taking calls in separate cubicles, or as they're walking home partway together at 6am. Easy, good-naturedly combative friendship, UST and love happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Drinking together

Charles' trust fund wouldn't get activated until he was 25, but he still wanted to go to university (and do three majors) before that. So he had needed money and preferably in such a way that didn't take too much time and too much physical exercise.  
  
It had been a very small advertisement on the message board of an Irish pub that had led him to Make A Lot Of Bucks With Sexy Phone Calls.  
  
//  
  
Erik had needed a lot of money for his father's surgery. And - when all that money had failed - for his father's funeral. Through those years being a verbal slut - as he liked to coin it - had paid for all of it. And even when the money wasn't that necessary any more, Erik kept on at Call For An Orgasm.  
  
He had met Charles three weeks after the telepath had started at CFAO. That had been four years ago.  
  
~~  
  
"I don't think it's weird if you find clowns scary but arousing at the same time." Charles waved hi from his cubicle when Erik entered. "Is there a difference between those you find sexy and scary?"  
  
 _Clowns? Again? Do you request for clown-fetishes or something?_  
  
 _Hi Erik, nice to see you too._ "Mime clowns? Oh, I think those are terrifying too! And always so depressed." Charles chuckled. "But you know what people say about men who need big shoes right?"  
  
Erik rolled with his eyes before entering his own cubicle. It was supposed to be isolated, but years ago he had created a small gap so he and Charles could push notes - and sometimes food - through. Before and between calls he just used it for looking at the brunette, now starting on getting a blow job from someone with a clown's nose on.  
  
After a second, a note was pushed through the small space between them.  
  
I thought you wouldn't come tonight. Everything all right?  
  
Today it was exactly two years ago that Erik's father had died. He turned the piece of paper and wrote a reply. But before he could linger on the thought, his phone went off. It was time to get to work.  
  
"Hello gorgeous." Erik always used the same words for a greeting.  
  
"Hi." The voice sounded muffled. "What are you wearing?"  
  
He looked at his baggy jeans and 'Democracy needs a lot of people to work' shirt. His work uniform.  
  
 _Suit_ , Charles suggested while telling in detail how it would feel like to feel clown's hair over your naked skin.  
  
"A suit", Erik answered. "Socks that reach my calves, trousers, an under-shirt, a blouse, waistcoat, tie, jacket and -"  
  
"O my God. Like those expensive socks?"  
  
 _Socks? Whatever happened to 'tell me how much you want to blow me' like in the old days?_  
  
Charles bit down on a giggle.  
  
"Cashmere. Because they're so soft against my skin." Erik reached for the sudoku he hadn't finished last night.  
  
A soft moan. "When you take them off, can I come in them?"  
  
In the cubicle next to him, Charles said good bye. _I guess masturbating on cashmere is the new 'blow me'._  
  
Erik shouldn't think about Charles in any combination of 'blow me' or masturbation.  
  
"Of course", he purred. 'They're all for you."

//

 

"Do you want to talk about it?" They were two hours away from the end of their shift and Charles leaned forward to peer through the gap.  
  
"It was fine. Added another pebble. Told him about .. _you_ that life's okay. That he and mum should dart through daisy fields now neither of them can have an allergic reaction."  
  
"Good thinking."  
  
"And that I was going to be incredibly drunk after work because it's Saturday night and don't know of a better way to celebrate the dead."  
  
"How German of you." _Can I come?_  
  
 _What, do you think I'm one of those sad people that drink by themselves?_ Erik stared into those blue eyes. "Do you know me at all?"  
  
A small smile. "I try to."  
  
"That's not your queue to admit you have a clown fetish, by the way." He returned the smile. It was hard not to.  
  
"Clown's are mainstream by now." He disappeared for a second, his hands pushing a small booklet through the gap. "Sudoku."  
  
"I'm not finished with last night's yet." _Thanks._  
  
"Well, if it stays silent like th-" Charles' phone rang. "Bugger."  
  
"If it's another one with lust for men who can make balloon animals, first pint is on me."  
  
 _No way. I'm buying tonight. It's what we work for, right?_   With a wink he disappeared, coughing before he answered the phone. Charles always did that.  
  
Erik looked at the puzzle in front of him. Last Tuesday Charles had told him that he would quit the job at the end of the year, two months before his trust fund would get activated. That meant he only had three months left to admit to his friend that he had such a crush on him that if he would share it with the world, people would be frightened.  
  
He absently played with a coin, levitating it around his head and willed the phone to ring. Everything for some distraction.  
  
"But you're so big!", Charles exclaimed in the cubicle next to him. "I don't know if I can relax my throat enough .."  
  
The coin launched itself into the fibre wall and Erik winched. _Bugger._

_//_

The pub was crowded, even though it was already four in the morning. Erik asked Charles to get a table, but Charles refused to use his abilities like that.  
  
"Charles!" The bar tender shooed a couple at the bar away, offering them a seat.  
  
Erik shook his head, but Charles' face stayed blank. _I swear I have nothing to do with it._  
  
"Hi Logan. Everything's fine tonight?"  
  
Erik sat down next to Charles. "Pints. Two please."  
  
"Lensherr, one day you'll understand that a tender can't just take an order without some small talk first." Logan turned to Charles again. "It's shit. Two fights, one ambulance and a hen night. It's a fucking Irish Pub, what are they doing here?"  
  
"Wow Logan", Erik smiled. "You're just the picture of hospitality, aren't you?"  
  
"I feel your pain."  
  
"You probably do." The bar tender shook his head. "Get the fuck out of my head Charles."  
  
Charles pretended to be offended. "Some people really _really_ like it when I read their feelings."  
  
"I'm not some people." He got glasses and poured them their beers. "Want something with that?"  
  
"Your balls, deep fried." It was such a worn out, not-funny reply he made every bloody week, but Erik couldn't stop himself.  
  
"What, you didn't get any at work?"  
  
"One day I will both silence you and only allow you to talk about the weather."  
  
"That's illegal", Erik and Logan both replied.  
  
Charles smiled. "Only if you think it's against your will."  
  
"This is not the night to play scary telepath." Erik took a sip of his beer.  
  
 _Oh, yes, I'm sorry._ Charles grabbed Erik's hand, just for a second. "I'm so stupid."  
  
"What, his plant died?"  
  
"That's all for now Logan, thank you." Charles turned back to Erik. "I'm such a dick."  
  
"You aren't." But maybe if he played the 'lost orphan' up a bit, Charles would touch him again. Of course he wasn't without emotions, it wasn't right to be without parents when you were only 26, but 'right' didn't always work out.  
  
"Erik?"  
  
"What's the matter dude?"  
  
Erik wished he was the telepath right now, so he could tell the bar tender to take a hike.  
  
 _We could just skip the beer and get you home?_  
  
He shook his head. "Get me something deep fried."  
  
Logan raised an eyebrow.  
  
"You heard the man", Charles added. "And don't forget a Mars bars."  
  
 _Mars bars?_  
  
The telepath blushed a little. _I always wanted to try those._ He awkwardly patted Erik's shoulder. _But the going home offer still stands, you know that right?_  
  
 _Of course I do._ Erik smiled. "But as long as you got Logan at your beck and call, there is no other place I'd rather be."  
  
Charles relaxed. "Good." He finished his beer in two large gulps. "And more beer, please!"


	2. Mess up

Erik never worked on Sundays and neither did Charles, so he had to wait a day before seeing him again. They often talked about meeting each other outside work, but somehow it never happened. Maybe both of them were secretly a bit afraid that it wouldn't work out, being around each other without fetishes to laugh about near.   
  
Tonight, Charles was late. Erik just finished his second conversation when he entered.   
  
"You're late."  
  
"I'm sorry mum." Charles looked a bit grumpy.   
  
"Who stole your cookie?"  
  
"Not now, Erik."  
  
Erik looked through their gap. _Want to talk about it?_   
  
_The moment of 'not now' hadn't passed yet._   
  
Before he could reply, his phone rang.   
  
A woman asked if he could speak Spanish. Erik offered German. She giggled.   
  
"But why do you enjoy German so much?", he asked, using his scruffiest German.  
  
"Oh!"  
  
Erik wanted Charles to offer a quip, to tell him something, but the cubicle next to him stayed silent.   
  
"Do you fantasize about big, strong German men?" It was strange to speak German again. Maybe he should have lied.   
  
"Oooh, go on go on go on!"  
  
 _Did she even understand German?_ "If you want a lump free dough", he offered an easy cookies recipe, "you should add some egg yolk."  
  
The woman moaned. She had a dough fetish or didn't understand a word he was saying.   
  
_What the hell are you saying to that poor woman?_   
  
It felt like something warm was draped over him, having Charles' voice back in his head.   
  
_Oh, now you want to know what I'm saying but when I want to know something, you don't share?_  
  
Charles stuck his tongue through the gap and suddenly all Erik's knowledge of German left his brain.   
  
_It was just an extremely fuck-ish day._ Charles took a call, whispering a couple of compliments to his caller.   
  
Erik continued with his recipe. _University? Family?_   
  
_A killer combo of those two._   
  
He cringed. No wonder Charles was Alice in bitch-land. The woman breathed a 'Thank you!' in his ear before hanging up.   
  
"No", Charles cooed. "You don't have to think about me and my pleasure, I'm all here for you. I can kiss you every where you want, maybe with some small nibs in between ..?"  
  
 _Relaxing massage later?_ Another thing that they've been doing for too long. Erik had some massaging experience and after one drunk offer three years ago, it was his go-to if Charles was really stressed.   
  
Now, his friend didn't even reply to his offer, his eyes unfocused instead of looking at his book or puzzle. Erik felt a stab of jealousy. Stupid callers.  
  
   ~  
  
"Wow." Charles finished the call after more than an hour. "That was hot." He released a throaty chuckle. "Maybe I should try the real thing once a while."  
  
Erik's pen was poking holes in his wall. "Real thing?" Even though he had had two customers during that hour, it had been hard not to listen in to Charles pretending to come.  
  
"Sex, stupid." Charles winked through the gap. "Just to discover if I still can enjoy it without a clown's suit on."  
  
His pen exploded into tiny pieces. "Yes. Of course."   
  
"But a massage should do for now." _If the offer still stands?_   
  
"Hm." _For as long there's no work._ Erik left his cubicle, trying to get his whirlpool of emotions under control before Charles would pick up on it.

//

Erik had stopped massaging Charles' shoulders when Charles had released such a wanton moan that it had made him hard. After that, they had talked a little, only sharing chess moves over their paper thin chess board.  
  
"Erik .."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Do you want to-" Charles' phone rang. "Hello gorgeous."  
  
 _Do I want to what?_ Erik wasn't sure if he wanted to know, but his mind already offered him several options. Do you want to come home with me/have sex with me/be my boyfriend?  
  
 _Just a second, please._ "You prefer men? Well, that happens to the best of us."  
  
Erik tensed.   
  
A laugh. "You know by my voice?" His accent thickened. "Well darling, that's fabulous! You won't have any trouble finding men with that ability. But how can I help you tonight?"  
  
 _You're kidding._   
  
_Don't act like you didn't know I was English._   
  
Erik fled to the bath room. Had Charles noticed that he had been turned on by him? But the telepath wasn't cruel, to let him listen in on something like that. "Fuck."   
  
"Lensherr?" Their boss hovered in front of the toilets. "No more than five minutes, you know the rules."  
  
 _And why are you such a bitch._ Erik smiled at Shaw and pushed the door open.   
  
  ~  
  
"Any way .. " They were done for tonight, and at the corner where they usually separated, Charles was holding back.  
  
"Yes, Charles?" For the first time in years, Erik felt a distance between them. Charles acted like he was uncomfortable, which made Erik uncomfortable.   
  
"Want to come back to my place?" Charles looked at his feet. "To er.. celebrate that I'm almost done here?"  
  
 _And you'll never have to see me again?_ It was so whiny that Erik wished he could retract the thought as soon as he had left it.  
  
"I was thinking more along the lines of 'maybe see each other in day light'?"  
  
Erik tried a smile, tried to lighten the mood. "Can't, I'm a vampire."  
  
Now Charles looked up at him. "Well, suck me sideways."  
  
"I know you wanted to try sex again, but that's just rude. What about roses and fo-" No, he was going too fast. "I think I better go home."  
  
"What? Why?" Charles looked bewildered. "I wasn't .. propositioning you! I just had a shitty day and we really had no time to talk and is this because of what I said on the phone? That I'm g-"  
  
"No. It's not that. It's-" This should be his cue, just blurt it all out and go home with him. Kiss him.   
  
"I'm sure it isn't." It was like curtains fell behind Charles' eyes. "I'll see you tomorrow night."  
  
"Charles, I really didn't mean it like that!"   
  
The telepath walked away. _Maybe you should learn to express yourself better than._  
  
"Charles!" Erik made to follow him, but something blocked him. Charles clearly had told him not to.


	3. .. I love you

Erik had thought of texting several things. 'I wouldn't even mind if you'd fall in love with clowns' was one. I like you in any way, was a second option. 'Let's be homosexual together' another, after seven shots of vodka.  
  
He launched his cell phone against the wall and wished for tomorrow night.   
  
"God damned Lensherr, stop destroying my bar!" Logan looked tired.   
  
"Screw you."  
  
"I think you should go home. Let me show you the way." The bar tender grabbed Erik's arm and tried to pull him away, but the bar had a metal edge so Erik wasn't going anywhere.   
  
"Stop destroying my bar!"  
  
"You're adama-adami- I can kill you." Erik just wanted to sleep.   
  
"Can you please just patch up things with your hubby before I don't have a place to live?" Logan hovered over him. "I mean it dude. I can feel Charles' manly man tears in the back of my head and here you are, getting skunk drunk without anyone to take advantage of you."  
  
He started crying. "He's not my hubby. I hurt him!"  
  
"Oh for fuck's sake." Logan muttered something rude before pulling Erik into a hug, eliciting curious stares from customers, but the other mutant didn't notice a thing. He had fallen asleep, drooling over Logan's shirt.   
  
"This is why I don't do relationships." The mutant lifted Erik over a shoulder and brought him to his room on the first floor.   
  
  ~  
  
Any other mutant might had taken his defeat, curled up in bed and wished for death, but Erik was not any other mutant and he had never missed a night of work. And he needed to see Charles.  
  
"You look awful." Charles was already in his cubicle when Erik came in. "And if you don't mind I won't hang around in your head today, because it feels lethal."  
  
It wasn't lethal, but the pain of the remark made the hangover pale. "I'm sorry." Erik was sorry for a lot of things.   
  
"You don't have to say you're sorry. You're completely allowed to do anything you want, including getting drunk."  
  
He tried to peer through their gap, to see Charles' face, but it was hard to focus. "You know what I'm sorry about."  
  
"I'm sticking with hangover." His reply was short. "Maybe it's best if you pray for a silent night."  
  
"Jesus, Charles!" It hurt even to talk, but he wasn't going to let this, _whatever it was_ , come between them. "I told you I was sorry and you know what I'm sorry about and frankly I don't know how you can even think that I would dislike you for your .. preference." Every word felt like someone was slamming a nail into his brain, but it had to be said.   
  
"I think I'm going to pray for a silent night as well." Charles leaned over, his eye against the gap. "Erik, you don't have to say sorry for something like that. I overreacted, it's a bit of a sensitive th-"  
  
His phone rang. Erik ordered it to stop, but it kept on ringing.  
  
"I have to take this." The blue eye disappeared.   
  
_No you don't._ Erik didn't know what was louder, his hungover or the voice egging him on to tell Charles he was in love with him.   
  
"Hello gorgeous."   
  
Erik just let his voice roll over him, balm for his soul. If he had one.   
  
The paper chess board was shoved through the gap, a move written out on its back. He made his own move and returned it.   
  
"You want to do what?" Charles chuckled. "I know this is my profession, but I never heard of something like that."  
  
How Erik desperately wished for telepathy right now. The chess board was returned to him.   
  
"Is it really called felching? Because that sounds a bit like the sound I make when I vomit."  
  
The caller laughed so loud that Erik could enjoy it as well. Erik tried to remember if he had ever heard about it, before getting his cell phone out and looking it up on the Internet.   
  
He wished he hadn't, but Charles just shrugged when Erik showed him the information.  
  
"Do you prefer any liquid?"  
  
Erik willed his phone to ring, just about anything to happen so he hadn't had to listen to Charles talking about that.

\\\

"Lensherr, a word?" Shaw opened his door.  
  
"Sure." It couldn't get much worse after all.  
  
"Did I ever give you the smallest idea that it was allowed to be drunk at work?"  
  
"I'm not drunk." Erik turned his chair to face his boss. "That was yesterday. After work. You must smell my hangover." He turned his chair back.   
  
Shaw wasn't impressed. "In my office, please." He opened the door so hard that it banged against Charles' wall. "Come on."

\\\

As soon as Erik had returned to his cubicle, Charles slipped a note through the gap.   
  
Everything all right?  
  
"No, but I'll live."  
  
Charles put his eye against the wall. "Want to talk about it?"  
  
"No." As to make it easier on Erik, his phone rang. "Hello?"  
  
A muffled voice asked if he was Erik Lensherr. He tensed. Last names were never used.   
  
_Everything's okay?_  
  
 _I thought you were going to stay out of my head tonight._ It felt too good to have Charles back there.   
  
_Maybe I missed you. Do you mind?_   
  
_Not at all. You're always welcome._ "I don't know anyone by that name, my name's Max. Can I help you with anything?" He couldn't look at Charles, even though he felt his gaze. Erik knew he was _this_ close to a confession.  
  
"I just wanted to ask if you made up with hubby yet."  
  
"Logan? Fuck you dude!" Erik banged the phone down.  
  
"Logan?" Charles frowned. "I thought Logan didn't even knew you worked here. When did you tell him?"  
  
 _Shit._ That had probably been in the black hole of last night/this morning. "Don't know. Doesn't matter."  
  
"Why did he call?" The frown disappeared.    
  
"He wanted to know if I had made up with eh .." Erik looked away. "Lover. Charles?"  
  
"Lover?" Charles' voice was strangely squeaky.

Erik catapulted himself from his chair and darted into Charles' cubicle. The brunette looked at him like a deer at an oncoming car.   
  
"I-" This was so weird. There should be candles and comfortable couches and maybe some alcohol, not a cubicle of a phone sex l- why were Charles' walls plastered with every chess game they ever had? And was that Erik's welcome note?   
  
"Yes?" Charles was still a bit squeaky.   
  
It was cute and Erik was already thinking about all of the other sounds he wanted to hear from him. "It was 'hubby', to be exact." It felt like something stuck in his throat.   
  
"Oh. Ah." He rose from his chair. "Can you close the door behind you?"  
  
Erik made a small wave, hearing the door click into a previous non-existent lock. "Are you going to hurt me?"  
  
Charles was all big blue eyes and Erik found it hard to focus on anything else. "Only if you want me to. I've known you for quite a while but .."  
  
"Let's just start slow?" He swallowed. "I mean, err- I really like you. You're .." He realized he was smiling like the Joker. "Hubby. And I'm so sorry I hurt you because it all came out wrong and it wasn't planned like that at all and I-"  
  
"I really like you too." Charles leaned into him. "Can I kiss you?"  
  
But Erik hadn't finished telling everything yet. "Y-"  
  
 _I was just so afraid that I would never see you again if you would stop working._. Charles' mouth was soft and tasted _so_ good and his tongue, darting through his mouth, lit a small fire in him.  
  
 _I might have lied about that._   
  
Erik pulled back. "Wha?" He didn't want to leave Charles' touch, but he couldn't stand lying.   
  
Charles bit his lip. "I just wanted to know if you eh- felt the same. Would mind me leaving."  
  
"Of course! So you just .. lured me into confessing that I l-" Somehow, the word was tougher second time around. "Like you?"  
  
"I'm sorry!" Charles pushed his hands into his pockets. "I just never felt like this and I try to keep it light because else it'll devour me and you know how I'd like to be in control."  
  
"Yes, I know." To be honest, Erik thought they were talking too much, until he registered what Charles had just said. "Really?"  
  
The telepath looked up at him. "Really."  
  
"Okay." Erik embraced Charles. "Don't lie to me again."  
  
"I won't." Those eyes didn't leave his.   
  
"And I don't like to be hurt, in any situation."  
  
Charles nodded. "Clowns?"  
  
"Shut up." Somewhere in the distance, he heard Shaw bitch at a colleague, but Erik trusted Charles to keep him away if he came to close.   
  
"Whatever you want. I mean it."  
  
 _You might be careful with that._ He kissed Charles, only now starting to realize that he _was_ kissing Charles, the one he had wanted for much too long. His best friend.   
  
_Please focus on the manners at hand._ Charles softly bit Erik's bottom lip.   
  
Hands. He let his wander, at the same time extremely curious and reluctant to not explore every little piece thoroughly.   
  
_I think we should call in sick._  
  
Erik moaned when he felt Charles pressing himself against him. _Never do that._   
  
_I'm not into cubicle-everyone-will-hear-us-sex._   
  
"What?"   
  
Charles blushed. "Too much?"  
  
Erik laughed. _Just keep surprising me._ "Do you tell Shaw we're gone or shall I?"


End file.
